Silent Preordination

Aziz exhaled, controlling his breath as he centered himself. Venomous Echo.

The technique detailed in the Lowly Serpent Breath Manual was unlike anything else he had learned. 

It required no active circulation of internal energy. No flow through his meridians, no telltale signs of mystical arts being used. It bypassed the Curse Mark's restrictions entirely.

Aziz flexed his fingers, feeling the residual energy in his muscles. It was a subtle technique, one that relied on resonance—his body becoming the vessel through which energy rebounded, multiplied, and stored.

Strike. Absorb. Return.

He had been practicing for the past two hours, his fists hammering into the reinforced training dummy, each impact sharper than the last. At first, it felt no different than regular strikes. But as he continued, the air around him began to vibrate.